Two Marines, One Mission

Photo By Sgt. Miranda DeKorte | The Camp Geiger Chapel on Marine Corps Air Station New River hosts religious services on Sundays on Jan. 29, Jacksonville, N.C. This chapel hosts religious services for Marines that are currently going through Marine Combat Training (MCT). (U. S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Miranda C. DeKorte)  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

01.29.2019

Story by Lance Cpl. Miranda DeKorte 

Marine Corps Installations East       

Every Sunday throughout boot camp and Marine Combat Training (MCT), Marines get the chance to take a break and have some quiet worship. For many Marines, this stops after their training, but for two Marines, they have decided to help others continue their spiritual journeys.
Cpl. Wesley Snyder, an aviation ordinance systems technician with Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron and Lance Cpl. Kaleb Stegall, an ordinance technician with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 263, volunteer every week to provide church services for Marines going through MCT.
“Kaleb and myself went through MCT a little over a year ago, so it is still fresh and it is not fun on either side,” said Snyder. “It is always nice to get a chance to sit down with them and pray and help them with their walk [with Christ].”
Snyder and Stegall volunteer to assist with services on Sundays and run bible studies on Tuesday and Friday nights as well.
“It can be 11 p. m. on a Saturday night and you are like, ‘Crap, I got to wake up at five forty-five in the morning’,” said Snyder. “But then you wake up and get to that first service and you see all of these Marines walk in, and you are like, ‘You know what, these guys are going through so much more than I am right now, and all I had to do was wake up early.’”
Some of the actions that Snyder and Stegall will do is pass out bibles, pray with Marines and even lead worship.
“The only thing I want the Chaplain to worry about is preaching his message, everything else should be taken care of,” said Snyder.
Snyder and Stegall see the effect they made on the Marines after they have graduated MCT.
“You see [the impacts] and then there is some things that you are never going to see,” said Snyder. “There is a Marine that is graduating MCT here soon and he wants to get plugged into a church,” said Stegall.
With these two Marines here every week, they hope that the influence is greater for someone other than themselves.
“On our first Sunday volunteering, we saw that this was a place where MCT Marines can come and be human beings,” said Snyder. “It is never for anything we do, it is all about what God is doing for the Marines and who they impact.”
The two also volunteer for A Home Away from Home for Marines, an organization that provides Marines home cooked meals, counseling, Netflix and cable, Saturday trips and a bible study. For more information on A Home Away from Home for Marines call [phone].

• Date Taken: 01.29.2019
• Date Posted: 01.30.2019 12:50
• Story ID: 308795
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US